Astroblog

Obscured by Clouds. The rough and ready blog of a cloud benighted biologist and amateur astronomer. Astroblog will cover my interests in astronomy, biology and Life, the Universe and Everything.

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

The Sky This Week - Thursday September 29 to Thursday October 6

The New Moon is Saturday October 1. Venus climbs higher in
the evening sky. The thin crescent Moon is close to Venus on the 3rd and 4th of October.
Mars and Saturn are visible in the early evening and form a long triangle
with
the red star Antares. The crescent Moon is close to Saturn on the 6th. Mars is in the "lid" of the Teapot of Sagittarius. There is a bright binocular nova in the constellation of Lupus.

The New Moon is Saturday October 1. The Moon is at apogee, when it is furthest from the Earth on the 4th. Daylight Savings time Starts Sunday October 2.

Evening sky on Tuesday October 4 looking west an 40 minutes after
sunset. Venus and alpha Librae are close together, with the thin crescent Moon above them. Similar views
will be seen throughout Australia at the equivalent local time. (click
to embiggen).

Venus
continues to rise into darker skies this week. Venus is high
in the dusk sky and can be seen easily. From somewhat before half an
hour
to a bit after
an hour and a half after
sunset, Venus is easily seen, staying
visible after twilight is over low above the horizon in truly dark
skies.

At the start of the week Venus is alone in the twilight skies. As the week goes by Venus
climbs higher into the evening sky towards the head
of the Scorpion coming close to the brightest star in the constellation of Libra. On the 3rd on 4th the Thin crescent Moon is close to Venus. On the 6th Venus is closest to Alpha Librae.

Evening sky on Thursday October 6 looking west as seen from
Adelaide at 21:00 ACDST. Venus, Mars, Saturn, Antares and the Moon form a stunning trail in the sky. The
inset shows the approximate binocular view of Mars and the Lagoon
Nebula. Similar views
will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time. (click
to embiggen).

It starts the week within a binocular field of within binocular range of two glorious nebula, the Lagoon Nebula and the Triffid Nebula. As the week draws on it moves away from them towards the bright star that forms the"lid" of the "teapot" Kaus Autralis, and the bright globular cluster M22. By the end of the week Mars and M22 are in the same binocular field. Detailed printable charts are available here.

With the Moon out of the way watching Mars progress through the star
fields of Sagittarius will be delightful, even by the end of the week the crescent Moon will not disturb the view.

Mars was at opposition on May 22, and is still visibly dimming,
but is still a modest telescope object. It is visible all evening
long. In even small telescopes Mars will be a visible, but gibbous, disk, and you may even be able to see its markings.

Saturn was at opposition on the 3rd of June. However, Saturn's change in size and brightness is nowhere
near as spectacular as Mars's, and Saturn will be a reasonable
telescopic object for many weeks. Saturn is readily visible next to Antares in Scorpius. Saturn is still high enough for good telescopic observation in the
early evening, setting abut midnight daylight saving time. In even small telescopes its distinctive rings are obvious.

On the 6th the crescent Moon is close Saturn, and in the early evening the line-up of Venus, Saturn, the crescent Moon and Mars under dark skies will look very good.

Location of Nova Lupi. The image shows the South-Western horizon as seen
from Adelaide an hour and a half after sunset. Similar views will be
seen elsewhere in Australia at equivalent times. Click to embiggen

A bright probable nova has been reported not far from epsilon Lupi. The nova
has rapidly brightened and is now almost unaided eye magnitude and readily visible in binoculars. It is not clear if it will brighten further and become visible to the unaided eye. Detailed observing charts are here.

Mercury is low in the morning twilight but never
rises far above the horizon.

There are lots
of interesting things in the sky to view with a telescope. If you don't
have a telescope, now
is a good time to visit one of your local astronomical societies open nights or the local planetariums.

Monday, September 26, 2016

My First Image of Nova Lupus 2016

Nova Lupus (ASASSN-16kt) imaged from my back yard using a Canon IXUS. 10 x 15 second 400 ASA shots stacked in DeepSkyStacker and contrast adjusted and cropped in ImageJ. Click to embiggen.

Despite rubbish conditions (low haze and close to te horizon, that's the roof of the house at the bottom) I was able to pick up the nova. compare this camera image with the simulations at this page.

Despite the less than ideal conditions form comparison stars I estimate the visual magnitude to be between 6.7 and 6.8, definitely not less than 6.9 (comparison stars TYC 7847-2084-1, TYC 8295-1806-1, TYC 7848-731-1, TYC 7849-1310-1, TYC 7849-2514-1)

A Bright Probable Nova in Lupus (26 September, 2016)

Location of Nova Lupi. The image shows the South-Western horizon as seen from Adelaide an hour and a half after sunset. Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at equivalent times. Click to embiggen

The image shows a simulated binocular view of nova Lupi (it will not look like a bright yellow ball at all, but more like a dim star) just above epsilon Lupi. Click to embiggen

Black and white printable chart of the western horizon at 9:30 pm. The Click to embiggen and print (use with redlight torches so as
to not
destroy your night vision).

Black and white printable chart suitable for use with binoculars or
telescopes. The large circle is the field of view of 10x50 binoculars.Click to embiggen and print (use with redlight torches so as to not
destroy your night vision).

Astronomical telegrams have reported a bright probable nova ASASSN-16kt not far from epsilon Lupi at
RA 15:29:01.82, DEC -44:49:40.89 (J2000.0) at magnitude 9.1. The nova has rapidly brightened and is now almost unaided eye magnitude according to the latest astronomical telegram with its reported magnitude between between 6.9 B and 6.3V.

UPDATE: NOPE found it on camera images, definitely there at around mag 6. It should be readily visible in binoculars, but by the time I went out tonight (9:30 pm ACST) it was just above the roof tops and I could not identify it. It is possible the nova may be fading already (although unlikely, alternatively, my rubbish eyesight and horizon murk obscured it). The best time to view is at astronomical twilight, when it is still high above the horizon.

A bright nova is a treat, so get out and have a look tomorrow (those of you not caught up in the "storm of a generation")

Saturday, September 24, 2016

Mars Meets the Lagoon Nebula (24-30 September, 2016)

Evening sky on Wednesday September 28 looking west as seen from Adelaide at 22:00 ACST. Mars, Saturn, Antares form a long triangle. The fuzzy patch near Mars is the Lagoon NebulaSimilar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time. (click to embiggen).

This simulation shows the approximate binocular view of Mars and the Lagoon Nebula in 10x50 binoculars under dark skies. The Lagoon Nebula is the vertical parch of stars and gas in the middle of the image. The Triffid Nebula is the second patch of stars and gas to the right hand side. Click to embiggen.

For the next few days Mars will be within a binocular field of the iconic Lagoon and Triffid nebulas. This will look rather nice, even under suburban skies they clearly visible as a fuzzy patchs to the uniaded eye and are very nice in binoculars. They will not be as spectacular as in professional astrophotographs of course, but they will look very nice in your backyards indeed. Over the next few days the absence of the Moon will give us reasonably dark skies, weather permitting.

Black and white printable chart suitable for use with binoculars or telescopes. The large circle is the field of view of 10x50 binoculars, the small circle the FOV of a 30 mm eyepiece with a 114mm reflector. Click to embiggen and print (use with redlight torches so as to not destroy your night vision).

If you head out aroud 10 pm local time and loo west, the constellation of Scorpio is obvious as a backto front question mark above the western horizon. Mars is the obvious bright red object off to the right of the curl of the question mark. You shoudl be able to see the Lagoon and Triffid Nebula e as brightish fuzzy patches to the right of Mars again.

By the 28th (and the 29th) Mars will be (just) within the field of view of wide field telescope eye pieces. This should look very good. You may find my guides to using point and shoot cameras to capture images of Mars and clusters in telescopes and just on tripods helpful (see here and here)

Astrophiz Podcast 12 is Out

This week’s feature is from Dr Nadeshzda Cherbakov, where she tells us about Blackbody Radiation.

In’What’s Up Doc?’ I tell you what to look for in the sky this week. My Tangent: the gunpowder smell of moondust and its inherent dangers.

In the news this week: 1. A team at the Large Hadron Collider reports a new particle dubbed the Madala boson.2. The Gaia mission is mapping the nature and movements of a billion stars in the Milky Way.3.
For our aurora watchers the European Space Agency has solved a problem
that was preventing us from closely observing the sun’s corona.4. Watch the Milky Way's birth in a lovely Caltech simulation at tinyurl.com(ForwardSlash)astrophizgalaxy5. Australian OzGRav teams to embrace the new era of gravitational wave astronomy in $31.3M project 6. 16th Australian Space Research Conference in Melbourne 26-30 September, 7.
The venerated Dish at Parkes serves up the answer to one of life’s
greatest mysteries with the discovery of the most complex chiral
molecules found in space.

(I'm a bit late passing on the link this week due to going to a talk by Dr. Ian Frazer and having visitors drop in)

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Aurora Watch (20 September 2016)

The Australian Space Weather Service (SWS ) has now issued an Aurora Watch for
20 September UT from a high speed solar wind stream and there is also a current
geomagnetic warning. Early evening skies are Moon free, but cloud is problematic
and the moon rises later in the evening. It is possible aurora may be seen in
Tasmania and Southern Victoria if minor storms eventuate. As of the last few
hours, aurora have been reports of aurora in New Zealand, but current conditions
in Australia are unfavorable. However, conditions are expected to fluctuate
rapidly through the evening so be on the lookout if cloud clears.

Dark
sky sites have the best chance of seeing anything, and always allow around 5
minutes for your eyes to become dark adapted.

As always look to the south for
shifting red/green glows, beams have been reported consistently over the last
few aurora and a large green "blob" has been seen, as well as bright proton arcs
and "picket fences".

The earth is
currently under the influence of a high speed solar windstream (675km/s)
from a recurrent negative polarity coronal hole.There is a chance this may
result in significant space weatheractivity and visible auroras during local
nighttime hours - dependentupon strong solar wind speed, sustained southward
Bz and favourableviewing conditions. Aurora alerts will follow should
favourable spaceweather activity eventuate.

The Sky This Week - Thursday September 22 to Thursday September 29

The Last Quarter Moon is Friday
September 23. Earth is at Equinox on the 23rd. The Moon is close to the red
star Aldebaran in the morning sky on the 22nd. Venus climbs higher in the evening sky.
Mars and Saturn are visible most of the evening and form a long triangle with
the red star Antares. Mars is close to the Lagoon Nebula on the 28th. The thin crescent Moon is close to Mercury in the morning on the 29th.

The Last Quarter Moon is Friday September 23. Earth is at Equinox on the 23rd, when day and night are approximately equal length.

Evening sky on Saturday September 24 looking west an hour after
sunset. Venus and Spica are close the horizon, with Venus well above Sica. Similar views
will be seen throughout Australia at the equivalent local time. (click
to embiggen).

Venus
continues to rise into darker skies this week. Venus is high
in the dusk sky and can be seen easily. From a little before half an
hour
to a bit after
an hour and a half after
sunset to just under an hour after sunset, Venus is easily seen, staying
visible after twilight is over low above the horizon but in truly dark
skies.

At the start of the week Venus is just above the bright star Spica, the
brightest star in the constellation of Virgo. As the week goes by Venus climbs higher into the evening sky away from Spica and towards the head of the Scorpion.

Evening sky on Wednesday September 28 looking west as seen from
Adelaide at 22:00 ACST. Mars, Saturn, Antares form a long triangle. The inset shows the approximate binocular view of Mars and the Lagoon Nebula. Similar views
will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time. (click to embiggen).

Mars
is in the western evening skies near the body of the Scorpion. On the 22nd it officially enters Sagittarius and comes within binocular range of two glorious nebula, the Lagoon Nebula and the Triffid Nebula. It is also just within binocular range of the Butterfly cluster at this time. With the Moon out of the way watching Mars progress through the star fields of Sagittarius will be delightful.

As the week progresses Mars comes closer to the Lagoon nebula and is closest on the 28th and 29th. People with wide field telescope lenses will just fit Mars and the Lagoon nebula in them together. at this time.

Mars was at opposition on May 22, and is still visibly dimming,
but is still a modest telescope object. It is visible all evening
long. In even small telescopes Mars will be a visible, but gibbous, disk, and you may even be able to see its markings.

Saturn was at opposition on the 3rd of June. However, Saturn's change in size and brightness is nowhere
near as spectacular as Mars's, and Saturn will be a reasonable
telescopic object for many weeks. Saturn is reasonably high in the evening sky and
is readily visible next to Scorpius. Saturn is still high enough for good telescopic observation in the
evening. In even small telescopes its distinctive rings are obvious.

Morning sky as seen at half an hour before sunrise on 29 September. The thin crescent Moon is near Mercury in the twilight glow as seen from Adelaide. Similar views
will be seen elsewhere in Australia half an hour before sunrise. (click to embiggen).

Mercury returns to the morning sky in the last week of September but never rises far above the horizon. On the 29th there is a chance to use the thin crescent Moon as a guide to finding Mercury low in the twilight.

Other morning views will be the close approach of the waning Moon to the bright red star Aldebaran in the head of Taurus the Bull on the morning of the 22nd, and the close approach of the thin crescent Moon to the bright star Regulus, alpha Leonis on the morning of the 28th.

There are lots
of interesting things in the sky to view with a telescope. If you don't
have a telescope, now
is a good time to visit one of your local astronomical societies open nights or the local planetariums.

Getting up at 2:30 am to view the penumbral eclipse was a bit brutal, as my plan to go to bed really early was thwarted by futile efforts to get SmallestOne to go to bed (The Guardians was on, who can resist super-powered owls) and I wanted to be sure my Beloved Life Partner arrived safe and sound in Hobart for a girls weekend at MOMA, airline connections meant that she didn't get in until around 10:30 pm.

Slightly trippy 7 frame animation of the eclipse, a bit of libration makes this interesting. There is also some CCD rubbish getting in the way.

But anyway, I staggered out of bed, checked the skies, which were largely cloud free as predicted (thank you SkippySky, my go to cloud prediction service), and dragged Don the 8" Newtonian out getting my weightlifting exercise.

With no Southern Cross or Pointers visible to polar align my scope (curse you horizon obscuring house), and having knocked the finder-scope out of alignment (curse you clumsy shoulders). I took longer than usual to set up and take my first image, hence missing the earliest stages of the eclipse.

But after that it was a just a matter of keeping warm (copious cups of tea and increasing the number of layers I had on until I waddled slightly), occasionally correcting for the drift of not actually polar aligning the scope (my scope has a two axis drive, but only one axis works, one day I will get that fixed.) stopping the camera from shutting itself down and just enjoying the eclipse with my own eyes.

This was the deepest penumbral eclipse I have ever witnessed. The north pole of the Moon went visibly dark, not as dark as in a partial eclipse, but there was nothing subtle about it, anyone wandering out in the early morn would have notice the Moon was not its usual bright self.

The sky was also darker, again, not as dark as it gets in a partial or total lunar eclipse, but you could see that the background sky was darker than ta normal full Moon and that there were dimmer stars visible at 4:30 than a few hours before (Having Orion and Taurus around, with a wealth of dim stars was a useful comparison).

Technical details, I imaged this with a Canon IXUS point and shoot at ASA 400, with infinity to infinity exposure apposed to a 25 mm Plossl eyepiece on an 8" Newtonian reflector with motor drive. See the set-up here. the exposure started at F 13 1/125 second and then mysteriously swapped to F 4.5 1/500 second around haf-way through. Why not my DSLR? Primarily because the Moon is bigger than the field of view of my DSLR on the scope, and I have to manually stitch two images together. That and I have to reread the manual to work out the settings.

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Astrophiz Podcast 11 is Out

Astrophiz Podcast 11 is out now. This week’s feature is from Dr Nadeshzda Cherbakov, where she tells
us about Vera Rubin’s historic discovery of Dark Matter and how she is
still being denied a well-deserved Nobel Prize.

In’What’s Up Doc?’ I tell you what to look for in the sky this week and
for astrophotographers, how to use a simple point-and-shoot camera on a
telescope. My Tangent: #TweetYourResearchAsAHarryPotterNovel
.

Penumbral Lunar Eclipse (Morning, Saturday September 17, 2016)

Morning sky on Saturday September 17 looking west as seen from
Adelaide at 04:00 ACST. Similar views
will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time. (click to embiggen). Note the subtle darkening of the Moon.

Earth's shadow is formed from two overlapping cone-shaped sections.
The outer or penumbral shadow is where the Earth blocks part but not all of the Sun's light from reaching the Moon. Click to embiggen

On the morning of 17 September there is a penumbral eclipse of the Moon,
where the Moon glides through the outer segment of the shadow cast by
Earth. Unlike earlier this year, the Moon dives deeper into the outer shadow, so although faint there will be a visible visible darkening of the Moons
northern regions. An example from the penumbral eclipse in 2012 can be seen here.

Unfortunately, this all occurs in the early morning,
so you will need to get up in the early hours to see it. However, to
eclipse aficionados the subtle darkening of the Moons bright light to a
pearly glow is quiet beautiful.

All of Australia will see this penumbral eclipse from start to maximum.
However, in the eastern states the Moon sets before the eclipse
finishes (see table below) . More importantly, in the eastern states astronomical twilight
begins around maximum, so the faint penumbral shadow will be washed out
by the twilight glow about an hour before the Moon sets. Central states
have around half an hour more time before the eclipse will be washed
out.

See the table below for timings for major cities (all times are am on the morning of the 17th). Twilight is Astronomical twilight, an hour and a half before sunrise, when the sky is still fully dark. See here for a map and contact timings in UT for sites outside Australia. Asia and Africa have the best views. My guide to imaging eclipses may be helpful.

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

The Sky This Week - Thursday September 15 to Thursday September 22

The Full Moon is Saturday
September 17. There is a penumbral eclipse of the Moon in the early morning of the 17th. Venus comes close to the bright star Spica in the twilight. Jupiter is lost to view.
Mars and Saturn are visible all evening long and form a triangle with
the red star Antares. There are a series of bright International Space Station passes near the bright planets. The Moon is close to the red star Aldebaran in the morning sky on the 22nd.

The Full Moon is Saturday
September 17. There is a penumbral eclipse of the Moon in the early morning of the 17th. The Moon is at Perigee (when it sis closest to the Earth) on the 19th).

Evening sky on Sunday September 18 looking west an hour after
sunset. Venus and Spica are close the horizon. Similar views
will be seen throughout Australia at the equivalent local time. (click
to embiggen).

Venus
continues to rise into darker skies this week. Venus is high
in the dusk sky and can be seen easily. From a little before half an hour
to a bit after
an hour and a half after
sunset to just under an hour after sunset, Venus is easily seen, staying visible after twilight is over low above the horizon but in truly dark skies.

At the start of the week Venus is just below to the bright star Spica, the
brightest star in the constellation of Virgo.
Venus comes closer and is closest to Spica on the evenings of the 18th and 19th.

The ISS passes near Venus with Spica nearby as seen from Brisbane on the evening of Wednesday 21 September
at 18:41 AEST. Simulated in Stellarium (the ISS will actually be a
bright dot), click to embiggen.

From the 16th to the 21st there is a series of bright passes of the International space Station to the bright planets, with some notable ISS-Venus passes, details are here.

Evening sky on Saturday September 17 looking west as seen from
Adelaide at 22:00 ACST. Mars, Saturn, Antares form a triangle. Similar views
will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time. (click to embiggen).

Mars
is in the western evening skies in the body of the Scorpion
(strictly, it is in the constellation of Ophiuchus, as is Saturn).

Mars moves further down the body of the Scorpion this week, moving away
from Saturn and the
red star Antares. The triangle they form continues to lengthen.

Mars was at opposition on May 22, and is still visibly dimming,
but is still a modest telescope object. It is visible all evening
long. In even small telescopes Mars will be a visible, but gibbous, disk, and you may even be able to see its markings.

Saturn was at opposition on the 3rd of June. However, Saturn's change in size and brightness is nowhere
near as spectacular as Mars's, and Saturn will be a reasonable
telescopic object for many weeks. Saturn is reasonably high in the evening sky and
is readily visible next to Scorpius. Saturn is still high enough for good telescopic observation in the
evening. In even small telescopes its distinctive rings are obvious.

Morning sky on Saturday September 17 looking west as seen from
Adelaide at 04:00 ACST. Similar views
will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time. (click to embiggen). Note the subtle darkening of the Moon.

On the morning of 17 September there is a penumbral eclipse of the Moon,
where the Moon glides through the outer segment of the shadow cast by
Earth. There will be a faint, but visible, darkening of the Moons
northern regions.

Unfortunately, this all occurs in the early morning,
so you will need to get up in the early hours to see it. However, to
eclipse aficionados the subtle darkening of the Moons bright light to a
pearly glow is quiet beautiful.

All of Australia will see this penumbral eclipse from start to maximum.
However, in the eastern states the Moon sets before the eclipse
finishes. More importantly, in the eastern states astronomical twilight
begins around maximum, so the faint penumbral shadow will be washed out
by the twilight glow about an hour before the Moon sets. Central states
have around half an hour more time before the eclipse will be washed
out.

For the East Coast Moon the eclipse begins at 2:52 am AEST,
astronomical twilight 4:30 am (approx), maximum eclipse is at 4:54 am ,
the eclipse ends at 6:56 am after Moonset.

For the Central states the eclipse begins at 2:23 am ACST, astronomical
twilight 4:48 am (approx), maximum eclipse is at 4:24 am , the eclipse
ends at 6:23 am around Moonset.

There are lots
of interesting things in the sky to view with a telescope. If you don't
have a telescope, now
is a good time to visit one of your local astronomical societies open nights or the local planetariums.

The ISS meets Venus and Mars (16-21 September)

The ISS passes almost over Venus as seen from Adelaide on the evening of Monday 19 September
at 18:59 ACST. Simulated in Stellarium (the ISS will actually be a
bright dot), click to embiggen.

The ISS passes near Venus as seen from Brisbane on the evening of Wednesday 21 September
at 18:41 AEST. Simulated in Stellarium (the ISS will actually be a
bright dot), click to embiggen.

The ISS passes near Venus as seen from Perth on the evening of Tuesday 20 September
at 19:55 AWST. Simulated in Stellarium (the ISS 0will actually be a
bright dot), click to embiggen.

All sky chart showing local times from Heavens Above for Monday 19 September
for Adelaide.

All sky chart showing local times from Heavens Above for Wednesday 21
for Brisbane.

All sky chart showing local times from Heavens Above for Tuesday 20 September
for Perth.

After a few weeks absence the International Space Station returns to our evening skies. Although stricktly speaking, the ISS returns tonight, for mots of Australia it is low and the passes are short until around the 16th. From then on the ISS will have a series of nice bright passes featuring some moderately close passes to Mars, and some quite close passes to Venus. At other times the ISS will come reasonably close to bright stars.

The most spectacular of the passes are the close passes to Venus, these are on 18 September from Melbourne, Almost on top of Venus on 19 Spetember in Adelaide (and again on the 20th), 19th and 20th from Perth, 20th and 21st for Brisbane and 21st for Sydney.

For Mars, the passes are less close but still nice, 16th for Melbourne, 18th for Adelaide and Perth, 19th for Brisbane. For Sydney the ISS is closest to Saturn instead.

There are also some nice passes close to the pointers and Crux.

When and what you will see is VERY location dependent, so you need to use either Heavens Above or CalSky
to get site specific predictions for your location, a small
difference in location can mean the difference between the ISS passing
over Venus and missing it completely.

Start looking several minutes before the pass is going to start to get
yourself oriented and your eyes dark adapted. Be patient, there may be
slight differences in the time of the ISS appearing due to orbit changes
not picked up by the predictions. Use the most recent prediction for your site.

After weeks of cloud and/or rain obscuring the horizon, I finally got to image Venus again. Jupiter is now lost in the glare of the Sun but Venus is visible late into the evening. Veuns is climbing towards a rendezvous with the bright star Spica, alpha Virginis.

Moon taken with the same Canon IXUS, mounted on 8" Newtonian with infinity to infinity focus as before,
25 mm eyepiece, 400 ASA, single 1 second exposure. Click to embiggen.

I am a bit of a planetary astronomy tragic. While I am happy to cast my eye and occasionally my telescope over galaxies and nebula, I am not so interested in photographing them, reserving my imaging efforts through my own scopes for eclipses and the bright planets, and my time on the iTelescopes for comets.

However, when I was trying to image Mars close to the globular cluster M19, I decided to set up my point and shoot camera on the Don the 8" Newtonian, with the motor drive. Because Don weights a ton, and is a pain to move further tan from the garage to my back yard. I typically reserve it for planetary imaging with the CCD cam. I use the 4" with the "point and shoot" because I can literally toss it in the nback of the care at a moment notiice zoom off and set it up anywhere, and move it at the drop of a hat if the tarhet stars to go behind a tree or roof line (so many eclipses have done that).

Taking astrophotographs of bright planetary bodies such as the Moon and bright planets can be as simple as holding a mobile phonesor cameras up to a
telescope eyepiece. I use a special adapter that holds my camera in
place. There are also adapters for iPhones (not, it seems for android
phones). These are a bit pricey (nearly $100 for astro-optical stores),
but I use mine so often it has repaid my investment. I typically use the adaptor for eclipse photography. I show the setup for my 4" Newtonian without time drive below, but the principle for a time drive telescope is the same.

Point and shoot camera, telescope adapter and 20mm telescope lens. Low power lenses are best for eclipse photography

Lens
inserted in telescope, tightened in (important, having the lens-camera
fall out can ruin your camera) and adapter attached to lens.

camera screwed onto platform, some adjusting is needed to centre the image.

The setup for the camera adapter is a tad complex, as you need to juggle
the lens to get it aligned with the telescope lens, all while the Moon (or whatever object you want to set up on)
is drifting out of the telescope field of view if you are using an a scope without a motor dive. Once aligned you will
need to constantly adjust the telescope position to keep the Moon
centred for a non-motor drive scope, although if you are using a low power eyepiece this is not that
often.

For lunar and solar eclipses, bright star or planet occultations etc this is not a problem, the occasional adjustment is a mild annoyance. But for faint fuzzies you definitely need a motor drive.

Anyway, the Mars M19 conjunction turned out so well with a single 15 second exposure, thar I decide to try out the lagoon nebula. This is not as easy as it souunds as the caurs and fine controls on Don were designed by a sadist , but I finally got a chunk of the nebula into the field of view and did a run of 10 15 second exposures at 800 ASA. 15 seconds is the longest I can do with the Canon IXUS, I could have done multiple runs but it was getting late and I had had to get ready for work the next.

The results are far from spectacular, but not bad for a first go. The main nebula is not centred, the camera is not properly aligned with the lens, so there is weird brightness variations, and the edge stars are distorted, but with a bit of practise (and better focus), I can do a bit of bright nebula cluster photography that I thought I would never be able to do, all with quite low cost eqipment.

After a beautifully clear day it looked like cloud would ruin the close approach of Mars and M19. I got Don the 8"Newtonian out and assembled it anyway and cooled it down while organising tea.

After dinner I set up the camera on the scope, ran some test shots on the Moon, then a couple of test shots on Saturn (next time I check the focus properly) then finally went for Mars and M19.

I had to juggle the alignment to get both Mars and M19 in the picture (as you can see) and because I didn't get the camera-eyepeice alignment exactly right there is some weird brightness variations across the field of view, but otherwise it worked ot pretty well. Remember this is a simple point and shoot camera basically just stuck up to the lens of the telescope (with an adaptor to be sure, but nothing particularly fancy).

While taking images I alos checked out the view in binoculars, in 10x50 binoculars, with a waxing Moon in the sky M19 was clearly visible near Mars.

M19 and Mars taken with iTelescope T12. M19 is at the top. Mars (near
the bottom) is grossly over exposed in this 10 second exposure. Click to
embiggen

Wednesday, September 07, 2016

Astrophiz Podcast 10 is Out

Astrophiz Podcast 10 is out now. Dr Nadeshzda Cherbakov and the Radio Window II, Dr. Elizabeth Tasker. Proxima B debunked. I witter on about what is up in the sky and why comets may have generated the WOW! signal.

Mars close to globular cluster M19 (7 September 2016)

Mars as seen from Adelaide at 22:00 ACST on 7 September, simiar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time. Click to embiggen.

Simulated binocular view of M19 and Mars. you will need to click to embiggen to see M19. M19 is faint and fuzzy under suburban skies in binoculars, so this is an accurate simulation.

Black and white printable chart suitable for use with binoculars or telescopes. The large circle is the field of view of 10x50 binoculars, the small circle the FOV of a 30 mm eyepiece with a 114mm reflector. Click to embiggen and print (use with redlight torches so as to not destroy your night vision)

M19 and Mars taken with iTelescope T12. M19 is at the top. Mars (near the bottom) is grossly over exposed in this 10 second exposure. Click to embiggen

For the next seven days Mars will be within a binocular field of the magnitude 6.8 globular cluster M19. This will look rather nice, even tonight, under suburban skies struggling with cloud, M19 was clearly visible as a fuzzy patch in binoculars near Mars. Of course over the next few days the waxing moonlight will make it harder to see the globular cluster.

However, on the night of the 7th Mars and M19 will be less than a degree apart, an will fit easily into a low power eyepiece of a telescope. while they should be fine to the unaided eye, photographing them will be a bit of a juggling act as the brightness of Mars will overwhelm the dimmer globular cluster (see the itelescope image above).

Mars will be a little over 1 degree away on the 8th, but will still fit in many low power telescope eyepieces.Well worth having a look.

on the 11th and 12th Mars wil be around a degree from the yellow orange binary 36 Ophiuchi (36 on the black and white map) a rather nice view in small telescopes)

Tuesday, September 06, 2016

The Sky This Week - Thursday September 8 to Thursday September 15

The First Quarter Moon is Friday
September 9. Venus and Jupiter form a line in the twilight. Mercury is lost to view.
Mars and Saturn are visible all evening long and form a triangle with
the red star Antares. On the 9th Mars, Saturn, the Moon and Antares form a kite shape.

The First Quarter Moon is Friday
September 9.

Evening sky on Saturday September 10 looking west at 40 minutes after
sunset.
Jupiter and Venus form a line above the horizon. Similar views
will be seen throughout Australia at the equivalent local time. (click
to embiggen).

Jupiterwas
at opposition on the March 8th, when it was biggest and brightest as seen from
Earth.

Jupiter is very low in
the western evening sky as the sun sets, and is too close to the horizon for decent telescopic observation setting shortly after nautical twilight. This will be the last week to see Jupiter easily before it is lost in the Sun's glow.

Venus
continues to rise above the twilight glow this week. Venus is high
in the dusk sky and can be seen easily. From a little after half an hour to
an hour after
sunset to just under an hour after sunset, Venus and Jupiter make a line that points to the triangle formed by Mars, Antares and Saturn. After Jupiter sets Venus remains visible for at least an hour and a half after sunset, into truly dark skies.

During the week Venus comes closer to the bright star Spica, the brightest star in the constellation of Virgo. By the end of the week Venus is just below Spica.

Evening sky on Friday September 9 looking west as seen from
Adelaide at 22:00 ACST. Mars, Saturn, Antares and the Moon form a diamond shape. Similar views
will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time. (click to embiggen).

Mars
is in the western evening skies in the body of the Scorpion
(strictly, it is in the constellation of Ophiuchus, as is Saturn).

Mars moves further down the body of the Scorpion this week, moving away
from Saturn and the
red star Antares. The triangle they form continues to lengthen. All week
Mars is within binocular distance of the globular cluster M19. It can
only be seen in binoculars or a small telescope, but the paring with
Mars will be very nice. On the 11th and 12th Mars will be a finger-width from the 4th magnitude double star 36 Ophiuchi, which is easily separated into its double components in small telescopes. Details for both events are here.

Mars was at opposition on May 22, and is still visibly dimming,
but is still a modest telescope object. It is visible all evening
long. In even small telescopes Mars will be a visible, but gibbous, disk, and you may even be able to see its markings.

Saturn was at opposition on the 3rd of June. However, Saturn's change in size and brightness is nowhere
near as spectacular as Mars's, and Saturn will be a reasonable
telescopic object for many weeks. Saturn is reasonably high in the evening sky and
is readily visible next to Scorpius. Saturn is still high enough for good telescopic observation in the
evening. In even small telescopes its distinctive rings are obvious.

On the 8th the Moon is close to Saturn.

There are lots
of interesting things in the sky to view with a telescope. If you don't
have a telescope, now
is a good time to visit one of your local astronomical societies open nights or the local planetariums.